KitchenAid Apologizes For Rude Tweet About Obama’s Grandmother

Whirpool’s home appliance brand KitchenAid is apologizing profusely for an offensive tweet sent from the company’s Twitter account on Wednesday, during the US presedential debate.

Shortly after President Barack Obama mentioned his late grandmother, the following mocking tweet appeared on the@KitchenAidUSA Twitter feed:

“Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! ‘She died 3 days b4 he became president’. #nbcpolitics”

The tweet was in reference to a comment Obama made during the debate as he spoke about the importance of programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

“You know, my grandmother – some of you know – helped to raise me,” Obama said. “My grandfather died a while back. My grandmother died three days before I was elected president. And she was fiercely independent. She worked her way up, only had a high school education, started as a secretary, ended up being the vice president of a local bank. And she ended up living alone by choice.”

“And the reason she could be independent was because of Social Security and Medicare,” he continued.

The original post was quickly deleted, but not before a swift and fierce backlash against the brand. At the time, @KitchenAidUSA had about 24,000 followers, according to PRDaily.

KitchenAid immedietely went into damage control mode and issued this apology on Twitter:

“Deepest apologies for an irresponsible tweet that is in no way a representation of the brand’s opinion. #nbcpolitics”

“I would like to personally apologize to President @BarackObama, his family and everyone on Twitter for the offensive tweet sent earlier.”

“It was carelessly sent in error by a member of our Twitter team who, needless to say, won’t be tweeting for us anymore.”

“That said, I take full responsibility for my team. Thank you for hearing me out.”

She then tweeted directly at several media outlets, including Mashable and Adweek, insisting she’d like to talk on the record about what happened.

Soledad said in a statement to CNN: “During the debate tonight, a member of our Twitter team mistakenly posted an offensive tweet from the KitchenAid handle instead of a personal handle. The tasteless joke in no way represents our values at KitchenAid, and that person won’t be tweeting for us anymore.”